X

the Classical wrote:as smug record collector scum I must say I prefer X from Australia.

Doe and Bonebrake did their best work on the Flesheater's A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die

So aside from the above glib posting from 5 yrs ago I had always appreciated X in a sort of distant and abstract way. I certainly didn't dislike them but for whatever reason I never really "got it". My wife is a huge fan though and she would play me the records and I would think "cool, but whatever". I thought Exene and John Doe were cool, a few songs I thought were great but overall nothing about them really excited me.

So last spring my wife tells me she wants to go see the Knitters, X's country-ish alter-ego w/ Dave Alvin and I'm like ok fine, whatever. I went to the show with basically no expecations and I was kind of blown away.

Actually, no "kind of", strike that I was legitimately blown away. I finally got it. They were truly inspired and inspiring. I finally understood what everyone else had been talking about. Since then those first four X records have sounded completely awesome to me, I've listened to them constantly since, much to the bemusment of my spouse.

Even See How We Are is a really good album. I dont know how they ever got called punk though. Especially after the first couple of albums. I first wanted to hear them when someone told me about this great LA punk band. They've never really sounded punk to me.

Awesome_Komodo wrote:Most of the L.A. punk bands seem boring to me. The Germs are sort of exception, but I'm not really "thrilled" by them either.

To further sink myself into the hole I made, I really dislike most of the SST bands. That could also be because Spot's recordings suck shit. I love the Minutemen on paper and their live stuff from that documentary as well, but listening to their records is a chore. The only good Descendants' record is the live one. Fuck Black Flag. The Dead Kennedys are the equivalent of a nostalgia lounge act that one would see in Vegas.

I should also point out that I grew up having heard Minor Threat before all these bands and view them as being way cooler, more interesting and more groundbreaking.

I will also even further dig my hole and say that after Minor Threat, the only other good Dischord bands are Circus Lupus, Crown Hate Ruin, Hoover, Jawbox, Lungfish and Shudder To Think. (Bands like The Monorchid and All - Scars don't count because they weren't ever officially Dischord bands.)

Most of the L.A. punk bands seem boring to me. The Germs are sort of exception, but I'm not really "thrilled" by them either.

To further sink myself into the hole I made, I really dislike most of the SST bands. That could also be because Spot's recordings suck shit. I love the Minutemen on paper and their live stuff from that documentary as well, but listening to their records is a chore. The only good Descendants' record is the live one. Fuck Black Flag. The Dead Kennedys are the equivalent of a nostalgia lounge act that one would see in Vegas.

I should also point out that I grew up having heard Minor Threat before all these bands and view them as being way cooler, more interesting and more groundbreaking.

I will also even further dig my hole and say that after Minor Threat, the only other good Dischord bands are Circus Lupus, Crown Hate Ruin, Hoover, Jawbox, Lungfish and Shudder To Think. (Bands like The Monorchid and All - Scars don't count because they weren't ever officially Dischord bands.)

Not Crap for Los Angeles, the early singles, Billy Zoom, and a couple songs from the second album. But this band very quickly descended into badly-produced, cowpunk-tinged, semi-commercial '80s gunk that has aged about as well as an episode of "Divorce Court." "Burnin' House of Love?" Not on my street.

Despite the slicker production, I think that Under the Big Black Sun may be X's strongest effort. Los Angeles makes for some stiff "best album" competition, but I enjoy the maturity, cohesion, and the bevy of ideas and styles presented on the third album. The only song that I'm not wild about on Sun is "Come Back To Me".

Came across a cheap Slash-era pressing of Wild Gift with a damaged cover last night. Hadn't heard that record all way through in a long time.

I love the first two records to death. I remember seeing the first Decline when I was a little dude and being totally blown away by their songs in the movie. Was really stoked to find that two-fer CD that had LA and WG put together.

Only caught up with the third and fourth records years later, and there are great songs on there, but they don't hit me the same way as the first two.

TomWanderer wrote:I saw a band a few weeks ago that was very interesting, I was really into the music. I went to their merch table and they had a cassette, a t-shirt, and a book of poetry. I bought nothing.